There is also a "jianghu" in the missile world - decoding the missiles with "many schools"

Since their introduction at the end of World War II, missiles have evolved significantly through decades of continuous improvement. So, how can missiles be classified?

According to combat missions, missiles can be divided into strategic missiles and tactical missiles. Strategic missiles carrying nuclear warheads are the "trump card" for nuclear powers to ensure mutual destruction. Tactical missiles are a type of missile used to destroy campaign and tactical targets. They can carry nuclear warheads and use conventional warheads. Tactical missiles have been used in large quantities in many local wars due to their relatively low technical threshold, ease of controlling combat scale, and flexible combat use. They are also one of the important weapons and equipment that major military powers in the world are competing to develop.

Russian MiG-31 fighter jet equipped with Dagger missile

According to actual combat needs and intentions, missile types can also be divided according to other standards, which can be said to be diverse. For example, according to the different missile launch points and target locations, missiles can be divided into ground-to-ground missiles, ground-to-air missiles, submarine-to-ground missiles, submarine-to-ship missiles, ship-to-ship missiles, ship-to-ground missiles, ship-to-air missiles, air-to-air missiles, air-to-ground missiles, air-to-ship missiles and shore-to-ship missiles; if classified by missile range, they can be divided into intercontinental missiles, long-range missiles, medium-range missiles and short-range missiles (different countries, organizations and technical manuals have different definitions of missile range indicators); if classified by missile carrier platforms, they can be divided into ship-borne missiles, submarine-launched missiles, air-launched (airborne) missiles and gun-launched missiles; if classified by target type, they can be divided into air defense missiles, anti-ship missiles, anti-submarine missiles, anti-armor missiles, anti-radiation missiles, anti-missile missiles and anti-satellite missiles; according to guidance system classification, missiles can be divided into radar-guided missiles (including active radar guidance and passive radar guidance), optical-guided missiles (including TV guidance, infrared imaging guidance and laser guidance) and multi-mode composite guided missiles.

The emergence of high-energy solid composite propellants has created favorable conditions for the transition of missile engine types from early liquid engines with short storage time, long preparation cycle and toxic and corrosive hazards to solid engines. According to this standard, missiles can be classified into liquid missiles, solid missiles and solid-liquid missiles according to the propellant type (different types of propellants are used in each level of power units); if classified by flight speed, missiles can also be divided into subsonic missiles, supersonic missiles and hypersonic missiles. For example, the hypersonic missiles currently being developed by the United States, Russia, China, Germany, France, Japan, India and North Korea generally have a flight speed of more than Mach 5. Among them, China and Russia are in the world's leading position in the practical application of hypersonic missiles and hypersonic gliders.

Iran's Conqueror hypersonic missile

In addition to the above standards, more common classification methods include ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and combined missiles according to the flight mode of the missile. A ballistic missile is a missile that flies along an elliptical trajectory only affected by the earth's gravity, except for a short section of powered flight and guidance. For example, the Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile launched from a well in a land base and the Trident II D5 intercontinental ballistic missile carried by a submarine are still an important part of the US nuclear deterrent force combination. Ballistic missiles are usually powerful and have a long range, and their hit accuracy depends on the technical level of the guidance system. Ballistic missiles can be further divided into single-stage and multi-stage missiles according to their structure. Generally, the more stages, the longer the range.

Cruise missiles are missiles that use rocket engines or air-breathing engines as power, rely on the aerodynamic force generated by the missile body (including the wings, etc.) and the thrust of the engine, and fly mainly along a maneuverable and variable trajectory in the atmosphere. We usually subdivide cruise missiles into cruise missiles, anti-ship missiles, anti-radiation missiles, and air-to-ground missiles. The popular "Tomahawk" cruise missile family and the "Harpoon" anti-ship missile family are cruise missiles. These missiles generally have the advantages of long range, high accuracy, low cost, high attack concealment, and diverse launch platforms. They can carry out surgical precision strikes on deep targets of the imaginary enemy. The originator of these missiles is the V-1 missile that Germany put into the battlefield at the end of World War II. Combined missiles combine the ballistic characteristics of both ballistic missiles and cruise missiles. During the flight, their altitude, azimuth, and direction will undergo complex changes, making it difficult for the defender to calculate their trajectory and intercept them, but correspondingly, they require extremely high overall scientific and technological levels of the developing country.

However, with the evolution of war theory and the improvement of technology, the combat missions of different missiles began to overlap, and new missiles with dual or even multiple combat missions appeared, and the traditional missile classification boundaries began to become blurred. Some countries, such as Russia, have specially divided the category of campaign tactical missiles into a separate category, and the Onyx supersonic anti-ship missile and the 3M54 sub-super dual-speed anti-ship missile in the Club/Caliber missile family belong to this category. Judging from the performance of the Russian side using the Kh-555 missile to strike deep targets in Ukraine from a long distance during the Russia-Ukraine conflict, this air-launched strategic cruise missile can also achieve tactical goals by replacing the conventional warhead.

In the future, with the changes in the international situation and the progress of science and technology, missile weapons may further develop towards hypersonic, stealth and intelligent, and the horizontal relationship between various types of missiles will become more blurred. At the same time, the definition of missiles itself - a type of unmanned aerial vehicle equipped with a warhead, a power unit, and controlled by a guidance system to fly to the target - has also begun to be severely challenged by suicide drones (also called cruise missiles). This type of low-cost micro-unmanned aerial vehicle has made impressive performance in the recent local conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia, as well as in the Russian-Ukrainian battlefield. Its low cost, simple operation and easy production may completely change the form of conventional warfare, and it can destroy the enemy's important technical equipment and kill its manpower at a very low cost. However, in the foreseeable future, missiles with "many schools" will still be an indispensable precision-guided weapon in the arsenals of various countries. (Author: Shi Zhan, Image source: China National Radio Military Gatekeeper Expert: Jiang Fan, Deputy Director of the Science and Technology Committee of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation)